It’s about that time when eighth graders ask me for study sheets to prepare for the examination. Before they get to be confirmed and receive the Lord’s Supper, the students must first answer questions about what they’ve learned in catechism. It may seem scary to face the examination but it’s not when we consider that every day is an examination, for each one of us.
Every Day is a Glorious Examination. Life is an open book test, and we know the answers. But natural man is clueless. When I say natural man, I mean people who have only their own thoughts and ideas. The apostle Paul contrasts true wisdom with such wisdom. “We speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age.”
The wisdom of this age is the wisdom of natural man. It is not wisdom. Paul mentioned “the rulers of this age” and their wisdom “are coming to nothing.” Who were the rulers of Paul’s age? People like the Roman emperors Caligula, Claudius, Nero. They urged people to worship so-called gods like Zeus and Aphrodite and also to worship the emperor himself. Many people trusted in chance, blind fate. The emperors promoted a life of entertainment, watching gladiator fights and chariot races. The people valued winning glory for themselves through academic learning or through victory in battle. As for domestic life, it was common to have a concubine, a live-in sexual partner that wasn’t one’s wife. But do you see a big thing missing from their way of life? Any knowledge of sin.
How odd would Jesus’ words have sounded to a Roman citizen? If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Yes, it’s strange for us to hear those words, too, but we are blessed to know that Jesus’ is using strong language not so we actually mutilate our bodies, but so we see that gouging out our eye, or cutting off our hand would be better, much better, than being sent to hell.
But natural man is clueless. Natural man denies the existence of hell. Life is like an open book test but natural man denies that there is a test, and he denies that there is even a book that has the right answers. We still have a sinful nature that tempts us to think in that old way, so let’s picture what it’s like to be natural man.
You can’t see anything. It’s total darkness. You can’t hear anything. It’s absolute silence. No eye has seen. No ear has heard. No mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. Apart from the Bible, would you know to love God? Would you have any idea what awaits you at your death? Your conscience warns you that you live under a just God, but the conscience doesn’t tell us everything. Our conscience only tells us we need to be good.
But isn’t it easy to convince ourselves we are good? “I may have had this lustful thought or this lustful action, but at least I haven’t had an affair, or if I did have something like an affair it was a long time ago.” “I may get angry with people now and then but I’m definitely not a murderer.” “There are a few people I don’t get along with but I’m a decent person.”
Natural man and our own sinful nature is clueless. He lives under his own rules. He decides what is good and right, and so he decides that he is good and right. But natural man does not know glory. He knows only shame. If natural man knew what was good, he would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Think how clueless natural man is. The Roman emperor was not going to be looking for the coming of the Son of God, when he allowed himself to be
worshipped as God. Many rulers today continue to serve their own appetites instead of following the Lord and his Word.
We were once clueless. We were born as clueless as a pagan, as godless as an atheist. But praise be to God for educating us. The Holy Spirit has taught us to know ourselves. We see that by our lustful thoughts we’ve committed adultery. By our angry thoughts we’ve committed murder. By our selfish and worldly thoughts we have broken the first commandment; we’ve bowed down to false gods.
This is nothing to be proud of but it is reason to thank the true and living God for teaching us. God has taught us to confess our sinfulness and repent of our sins. He has taught us to love and trust in the Lord of glory who was crucified for us, for our salvation.
We were born spiritually blind but now we can see. Now we see that our Redeemer lives. Now we see that hell is as real as death and we deserve both but we’ve saved from both hell and death. For we have learned that Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory, and his greatest glory is that he bore our shame on the cross. He carried our sin, he eliminated our sin in the agony of his own body on the tree. Let’s take a closer look now at the education we have received.
It all starts with our teacher, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the great educator. In our world a teacher must get a degree to be able to teach others. The Holy Spirit has given himself an education, in a way. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. This speaks to the mystery of the Trinity. How can God search out God? Well, the Word of truth tells us here that the Spirit searches out the things of God, even the deepest depths of God. Our limited
sinful minds can’t fully comprehend this but we know it’s true. And a comparison is given to help us understand.
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Who knows your thoughts except your own spirit within you? You might very depressed right now. You might be very excited and happy. I wouldn’t know unless you told me.
We wouldn’t know God’s thoughts except that he has told us. The Spirit of God has searched out the things of God, and he has told us how God feels about us. Every day is a glorious examination for we know a secret. The secret is that God has destined us for glory since before time began. We would not know this good news, we would not even be part of this good news, except that the Spirit has enlightened us by his Word. We know that God is a just God who calls for obedience, and he is also a merciful God who forgives sin through his son. One verse in our text brings out that fact. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. The spirit of the world is the false wisdom of natural man. It’s the wisdom of the devil that says, “You are your own God.”
But that’s a lie. The Spirit teaches us the truth. We are not God. The LORD is God. And we are entirely dependent on him for every good thing. And God has freely given us so many good things. On examination day, I’ll ask the catechism students questions and they will answer. Every day is a glorious examination because we get to answer questions. Each day we study the things that God freely gives us. And we get to speak of these blessings: the faithful
sun shining in the sky. The promise of spring, which will eventually come, with green grass and bird songs. The fuel that God supplies so we can heat our homes. The police, firefighters, and paramedics that God supplies to keep us safe in emergency. The mighty angels who are invisible but whom the Lord sends to protect us. The teachers who teach our children. Above all, the Savior who has redeemed us and has freely given us eternal life.
Every day is a glorious examination because we also know the secret of how to live a truly respectable human life.
The Holy Spirit has taught us that our purpose as humans is not to satisfy our evil cravings. Our purpose is to deny ourselves, trust in Jesus and obey his commands.
And don’t buy the argument when people say, “The Bible is ambiguous. It all depends on how you interpret it.” No, God’s Word is a light for our path. The moral commands of the Bible and the promises of the Bible are clear and easy to understand.
So let’s rejoice in that. We’re not in the dark. We know what is right. Every day is a glorious examination because we are to examine our own hearts. The Holy Spirit teaches us this truth in Proverbs 4. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Every day, let’s guard and examine our hearts. By the Spirit, we’ve learned to hate sin. Don’t let any sin enslave you. If you’re tempted to fall into sexual immorality, don’t keep breaking the sixth commandment. Repent, and seek to fulfill your sexual desires in a godly way with your marriage partner. Hate sins of lust that tempt your heart. Hate these temptations of the devil so much that you’d rather cut out your eyes than fall into lusts again.
Hate the sin of anger. Don’t hate people. Hate the temptation to be angry at people. Hate it so much that you’d rather cut off your hand than hold a grudge.
Easy for us to make these bold statements now, but what about when you’re out of the safe confines of church and you’re back home where the devil will again try to drag you down into the same old sins?
Every day is a glorious examination. It doesn’t seem glorious that we must fight this constant battle against our sinful nature, but keep in mind. We’re fighting the good fight. It’s a great blessing that the Spirit has taught us to hate our sins and to love Jesus. For life is a test. It’s an open book test.
Judgment Day will be like the most horrifying pop quiz imaginable. Many people will have no answers, no defense. God will say to them, “Depart from me”. Life is a test but our situation is a lot like the confirmation kids on Examination Day. When they sit before the altar and answer the questions, they can take comfort knowing that they’ve already passed at that point. They cannot fail. Every day is a glorious examination because God tests us, but we’ve already passed. We have passed the test of God’s holy commands, because Jesus is our righteousness. He too was tempted by the wisdom of this age, but Jesus never had a lustful thought or action. He never ever had a bitter or resentful thought. He kept himself pure for our sake. He died and rose again, for our salvation. Every day is a glorious examination, because the eyes of natural man are upon us. The world asks us what we stand for. Our answer is Jesus. He is our glorious answer to every problem we face, every day. Amen.
